By Bob Romantic
GCU News Bureau
The latest office shuffle in the renovation of GCU’s campus is under way – and this time the move will have a “haunting” effect on the University.
Restoration of the Colter offices on the eastern edge of campus is complete, and members of the Facilities team began moving in this week. The Marketing Department will follow with its move to the offices next week, followed by the Office of Academic Records the week of Oct. 8 and the Human Resources Department and Facilities warehouse during the third week of October.
“Once that happens, everyone will be moved out of the North Campus and demolition of those buildings can begin,” said Rich Oesterle, assistant director of campus development.
Before that occurs, however, the Office of Student Life has plans for one of those vacant buildings.
“Yes, we’re doing a haunted house again,” said Sarah Thatcher, student involvement manager for GCU. “We were trying to figure out where to have it, and Charlie (Sirokman) and her team suggested the North Campus. It’s a great little window of time before they tear those down. It was perfect timing.”
The haunted house is planned for Oct. 27 and 28 in the North Campus building that had been the home for state compliance offices. Thatcher said the location is perfect because “students don’t know that area of campus and those old buildings are kind of creepy anyway.”
Last year, the haunted house was created in the then-vacant bottom floor of Prescott Hall, which is now home to Student Life, Career Services, ASGCU and Health Services. Sirokman, the project director for campus development, and the Pono Construction team created temporary walls to create a maze effect in the haunted house, and actors from the College of Fine Arts and Production as well as other students dressed up as scary characters.
Canned goods were accepted as admission into the haunted house and donated to the Dream Center.
“It was a huge success,” Thatcher said. “It was a legitimate haunted house. People were scared.”
In addition to using the North Campus as a haunted house, Oesterle said the University plans to see if the Phoenix Fire Department and SWAT team would like to conduct training exercises in the vacant buildings before they are demolished.
Come November, however, the North Campus will begin its transformation into more residence halls and a second parking garage.
Construction crews will break ground in November on the Chaparral and Saguaro dorms, which will be the sixth and seventh residence halls on campus. They will be located north of Sedona Hall and will look similar to the Camelback and Sedona dorms that were completed this summer. An activities area also will be created amid the Chaparral and Saguaro residence halls.
In January, ground will be broken on the Missouri parking garage. It will be located on the northern edge of campus off Missouri Avenue and is expected to contain 1,400 parking spaces.
Contact Bob Romantic at 639.7611 or [email protected].
